An Official Employee Publication From the Office of University Relations

By Susie Fagan
Although the Iron Curtain fell more than 11 years ago, many people know little about the lands, people and culture it cloaked.

A festival of events this spring at KU will present evidence — in visual arts, drama and film — of the Czech nation’s place at the heart of European culture.

“The Cold War set up an artificial divide by cutting Europe up into western and eastern halves through the middle of Germany and along the western border of the Czech lands,” said Bruce Berglund, assistant director of Russian and East European studies at KU. “We hope this festival helps to show people that this area that we’ve lumped into eastern Europe is really part of Europe.”

The program’s anchor event is a Spencer Museum of Art exhibition of innovative Czech theater design from the decades of communist rule — “Metaphor and Irony: Czech Scenic and Costume Design 1920-1999.” It will be displayed at the museum from April 12 to June 3.

The exhibition will be complemented by a program developed by KU’s Center for Russian and East European Studies, the Department of Theatre and Film and University Theatre, the Lied Center and the Hall Center for the Humanities.

“Crossroads of Europe: Czech Culture” events include:
• University Theatre productions of Smetana’s classic opera, “The Bartered Bride,” and Václav Havel’s “Temptation.”
• Lied Center performances by the internationally acclaimed Czech puppet theater company, Drak.
• a Czech cinema festival sponsored by the Department of Theatre and Film and the Hall Center for the Humanities.
• an adult study tour of the former Habsburg Empire.

In addition, KU Continuing Education and CREES will present “The Heart of Europe,” a six-week evening course March 7 to April 18 as part of the “KU for Lawrence” series of noncredit courses.

The course will feature presentations by KU faculty and visitors from the region about the art, music, literature and architecture of Central Europe.

“A number of people who study the history and the culture of this region point out that the 50 years of Communist rule was something of an artificial divide,” Berglund said. “These nations were always part of European civilization.

“When you travel to the far eastern parts of Poland, you travel to small towns in far eastern Slovakia, you see gothic architecture, baroque architecture – you see signs of the Renaissance. So this was part of, for centuries, part of Europe at large.”

For more information about the festival, see http://www.ukans.edu/~crees/czechsem.html.
• Continuing Education offers Habsburg Empire